Communication devices, such as cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, and desktop computers, provide users with a variety of mobile communications services and computer networking capabilities. These communications services allow data to be exchanged between the service providers and the users. Mobile radio network operators currently operate not only on the prevalent mobile radio systems using the GSM standard for mobile communications, but also networks using the new and evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) standard. Based on such standards and the infrastructure to support data exchange, the service providers provide connectivity to the users. Further, the users are charged for the communication services provided by the service provider or an operator, based on various parameters. Examples of such parameters can be location of a user who initiates a call, i.e., a caller party, location of a user to whom the call is directed, i.e., a called party, type of connection associated with the caller party, i.e., a pre-paid connection or a post paid connection, and the type of service requested by the user.
Typically, a user subscribes to the communication services provided by the service provider in a pre-defined geographic coverage area or circle, which is also referred to as a home network of the user. The subscription of the user for the communication services are with a fixed service operator which is the default service provider of the user. Generally, the user connects to the default service provider for the communication services. However, in certain situations, such as when the user is outside the home network, i.e., when the user is on “roaming”, the user may connect to a service provider other than the default service provider. Further, in certain situations, the roaming may also be an international roaming where the user may travel through international boundaries and utilize the communication services through a service provider other than the default service provider. Generally, if a communication service is requested through the default service provider, the user is charged according to the normal tariffs. But, when the user is in roaming and connected to service providers other than the default service provider, incremented rates of providing services are charged in addition to the normal tariffs.
Further, to provide wireless connectivity, the default service provider issues a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to a user. The user utilizes the SIM along with a Mobile Equipment (ME) to connect to the communication network through a service provider. The SIM authorizes the user to connect with the service provider based on a unique International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number and a unique Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) which are allocated to the user by the default service provider. Therefore, based on the MSISDN and the IMSI number, a service provider identifies a user to be a native user, i.e., a user for whom the service provider is a default service provider or a user belonging to another service provider who is on roaming, i.e., a non-native user.
It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.